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Drew Barrymore on Making Sacrifices for Daughter Olive: I Don't Think Women Can Have It All

Drew Barrymore on Making Sacrifices for Daughter Olive: I Don't Think Women Can Have It All

Drew Barrymore may look like she has it all -- a successful career in Hollywood, a supportive husband, a beautiful baby girl, her own makeup line -- but looks, she says, can be deceiving. The actress/producer claims she's had to give up "so much" since giving birth to Olive last September. But she wouldn't trade the time with her daughter for anything.

"Things have to go and that's unfortunate," the new mom told Us Weekly at Lucky Magazine's Fashion and Beauty Blog Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Thursday, April 4. "There's sometimes things you've invested a lot of time into or cared so much about, and you get to the precipice and you're like, 'I can't do it,' because I won't do everything else well or I will miss out on this or I need to be over here now...I think it's a lot about sacrifice."

"I know it seems like I do everything, but there's so much I had to give up," she continued. "And I'm glad I did. I still think about it all the time, but you start to really get instinctual about the right thing to do."

Later, during one of the panel discussions at the conference, the Big Miracle star, 38, said she walked away from some of her goals because she didn't want to be absent for any of the big moments in Olive's childhood. "You know that you're going to miss out on your child’s upbringing or you realize that your relationship is going to suffer if you work night and day and weekends," she explained. (Barrymore married art consultant Will Kopelman in June 2012 in Montecito, Calif.)

"Unfortunately, I was raised in this like generation of like, 'Women can have it all,' and I don’t think you can. I think some things fall off the table," she said. "The good news is, what does stay on the table becomes much more important."

"You've got to choose your battles, definitely," she continued. In her case, that means not directing any movies right now. "I would miss out on my daughter. I can’t do it...It was heartbreaking to let go, but it was a clear choice," the Whip It filmmaker said, adding that she had also taken a step back from acting.

Don't count her out for good, though. "As my daughter gets older, I'll slowly get back into it," she assured fans at the conference. "I'm never not going to be who I am. I'll never abandon ship completely. Life does take different turns and it's really wild."